John W. Telford

John W. Telford was born in 1944. He is an outdoor photographer known for his acute color perception. He is currently a professor at Brigham Young University.

Although essentially self-taught, Telford earned an MFA from the University of Utah where he was the supervisor of photography at Educational Media Services. He also taught at Westminster College, the Salt Lake Art Center, and Hill Air Force Base.

In 1988, he and naturalist writer Terry Tempest Williams collaborated on Coyote's Canyon, a photo and essay journal of southern Utah. Reflections of Sunset, Lonepeak, Draper, Utah, a color photograph, won the purchase award at Utah '88, a photography exhibition sponsored by the Utah Arts Council.

John W. Telford (1944-), of Sandy, Utah, is a talented present-day Salt Lake City photographer/teacher now associated with Brigham Young University. In early days, he experienced some formal training in photography at B.Y.U. but has always been essentially self-taught, even though he is now the holder of an M.F.A. from the University of Utah. Telford worked for the U. of U. (supervisor of photography, Educational Media Center) long before he picked up his advanced degree, and for a number of years, he was director of the Edison Street Gallery in Salt Lake City for Borge Anderson and Associates. Telford also taught for the U. of U./Snowbird Summer Arts Institute faculty for several years. Other teaching assignments include Westminister College, the Salt Lake Art Center, Hill Air Force Base, and Kimball Art Center, and his photographs have appeared in Fortune, Stern, Communication Art, and People magazines (the latter fortunate enough to employ John as “regional photographer“).